Good point

only for hitchhikers

Intelligent life, aka self awareness, has been around for 150,000 years on a planet 5 billion years old. Within a hundred years more we will have to avoid killing this planet off. I suspect there have been millions of planets that have intelligent life get to this stage only to erase themselves. The few that do reach this stage and get through it are either too far away for us to know, or lived millions of years ago and either evolved to some unbelievable state or died out. Or perhaps they are close enough to observe us but take care not to let such undisciplined idiots know about them.

You may not know the meaning to your life, but my wife and I certainly do. Many people do have a good idea about the meaning of their lives. At the same time, others go through life with no answer to that question. Neither is right or wrong.

Yes I "sowed my oats" when I was a teenager and into college. I don't recall seeking meaning to my life, I was just enjoying it, because I could.

Eventually I got to the point where I said "okay that was fun, what's next?" and continued on to the next phase in my life. I was still not seeking meaning to my life. I don't think I've ever looked for meaning in my life. Knowing what it means, won't change anything anyway. I'm alive, I'm here, I am who I am and what I am. I try to be the best "me" I can be. Not because it "means" anything, but because that's how I was raised, and how I've chosen to be.

Being able to help others, being glad to have family and friends who will help me when I need it, none of this has anything to do with "meaning." If it meant I was going to heaven, I wouldn't work any harder than I'm already working to be the best "me" I can be. If it meant I was going to hell, I wouldn't stop doing it.
"Meaning" has little value to me, in terms of my humanity. I'm human, whether it means something or not.

Existential nihilism is an example of no meaning to life.”The sludge at the bottom of a test tube.”

Life doesn't need to have meaning. It just exists. Humans need/want answers to all manner of questions. Our self awareness makes us ponder questions like; who am I, where am I going. Our fear makes us need reassurance that everything will be alright and we will be safe and protected. Faith/belief in an afterlife satisfies that need to quell our fear.

"Faith/belief in an afterlife" has produced a lot of SIDE EFFECTS. Take for instance the infamous PTL club with James Bakker and Tammy Faye. There are many other infamous MODERN examples of people using religion for a corrupt intent. All throughout ancient and modern history people (usually men) have put on robes or other distinguishing clothing to identify themselves as SPECIAL and get SPECIAL FAVORS and POWER from a tribe, or community or a government. It's like an ultimate CON GAME......I tell you that you will do VERY well in the afterlife (be important and SPECIAL) and in EXCHANGE for that and maybe some special holy water spashed on you - you give me a nice house to live in and MONEY.

Then, ultimately, these faith/belief ideas infiltrate the government and OFTEN lead to WARS against some offending OTHERS or OTHER religion. This has been proven time and time again throughout History. Today in the US, it is still the same/same thing. Look around you ......there are fancy houses and gathering places called "churches" where the cash registers are RINGING and the "faithful" feel VERY confident that they are better than "OTHERS" and will get the best seats at the table called the "AFTERLIFE".

There is a huge difference between faith and religion. In my opinion "faith" is a personal relationship, one on one, with God. Religion, on the other hand, is a construct of man. No matter how nobly a religion starts out, it inevitably becomes corrupted. Human nature is what it is.

Interesting that the Bakkers were mentioned. Quite some time back I had a woman employee, early 30s, with four children. Her husband was killed in a logging accident. I did what I could, giving her extra hours when available, but her job didn't pay much. Certainly not enough to maintain her and her kids. Not long after her husband's death she started watching "The PTL club", Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker's TV program, the basis of their "message" being that God will bless someone twentyfold if they contribute to someone doing the Lord's work (of course, the PTL club). She was desperate and contributed. No twentyfold return. I guess the expectation was that she needed to show her dedication by giving even MORE money. Still, no return. She left her job after a few weeks and we lost contact. Some time down the road I heard there had been a suicide attempt, thankfully unsuccessful. I also heard that her kids were taken from her.

Such is the power of "religion".

This thread is getting way to deep for me.

No. 2 shovel and hip boots.

Definitely.

Definitely hip boots.

Very good! When God supposedly gave Moses the ten commandments, he could have just given him a post it note with the golden rule, or as I like to think of it, The Only Commandment.

We should have had wheels because ice cream has no bones.

HAHAHA! Sounds like a great line for song. 😂

I can agree with that. A good point about the difference between faith and religion. I try to avoid the whole issue of religion by not giving it MUCH thought. I believe that Lincoln had faith rather than religion. When people show me that they are "of GOOD WILL" and are generally good people, I can respect that whether they are church goers or NOT. For SOME small % of people (about 5%), i believe that church is good for them, they NEED that type of socialization. Church helps to stabilize many on the low socio-economical scale, they NEED it. There are intelligent people that express a NEED for church. They may be a farmer or business person in a RURAL area where church-going is VERY EXPECTED and they NEED to CONFORM.

Many urban intelligent people are ADVERSE to attending church. Some attend due to worry about the AFTER LIFE-thing. Agnostics are often called "chicken atheists".